Butterflies and moths belong to a family called ‘Lepidoptera’ which means ‘scaly wing’. Each wing is covered by thousands of tiny scales - as many as 600 scales per square millimetre of wing!

These scales are pigmented but are also different shapes and set at different angles which mean that they diffract light differently. It is these scales that give butterflies and moths their stunning colours…

Thank you to volunteer Graham for his report and photographs.

The weather forecast suggested that there would be rain showers at Pulborough Brooks on Sunday. However, I am pleased to say that my raincoat stayed unused in my rucksack as the weather remained fine all day.

Soon after setting out on the Wetland Trail I diverted for a short while to the meadow by the yurt. The colourful display provided by the Meadow Cranesbi…

Thanks to volunteer Graham for his report and photos.

Once again it was bright and breezy at Pulborough Brooks on Sunday. 

For once I bypassed West Mead Hide and I was soon in Winpenny Hide. At least eight Little Egrets were in reasonably close range, providing some nice views through my scope. After a while I spotted a White-tailed Eagle circling high in the sky to the south. After the eagle had flown off a Hobby was spotted…

Thanks to volunteer John for his entertaining report

'It’s all white…'

Well nearly. There were some other colours too. My sunny, breezy walk this morning started by the top pond. A Kestrel passed by and a few moments later I saw what I presumed was the same bird hovering over the zigzag. It looked big so I checked with the binoculars and saw that it was a Buzzard. It hovered, wings fluttering, doing…

We’ve set up our ‘Wonderful Wildflowers trail’ around the paths to introduce you to some of the fascinating flowers you can see at Pulborough Brooks. The trail will be running throughout the summer around our wetland nature trail – there’s no additional charge & no need to book a visit.

Here are a few highlights from the trail at the moment...

Close to the Visitor Centre is our Wildlife…

Dog Rose by Anna Allum

Wonderful wildlflowers

Summer is the best time to go for a walk and browse nature’s sweet shop – a wildflower meadow.  As well as seeing and smelling some beautiful flowers, you’ll be able to see some of the incredible insects who visit them to feast on their tasty nectar.

But as well as being an important source of food for our bees, beetles, butterflies, bugs, hoverflies and…

Gatekeeper butterfly by Gareth Hughes

We all know how good it feels to be immersed in nature, mentally and physically but sometimes we forget how lucky we are to be able to do this.

Over the next few weeks we’ll be hosting some wellbeing sessions here at Pulborough Brooks. The sessions are being run by the South Downs National Park Authority in conjunction with ‘Wild Gathering’ and ‘Creative waves’ and are designed to…

Thanks to volunteer Phil for his report and photos:

"Recent Sightings 26 May – the dragonfly’s nemesis"

Visitors to West Mead hide on 26 May were treated to some truly spectacular high- octane excitement as 2 Hobbies made many sorties out over the pool in front of the hide hawking for dragonflies.  This continued on and off for about 45 minutes, and it seems that in the off periods the birds may have…

Thanks to volunteer Graham for his report and photos.

It was a sunny but breezy day at Pulborough Brooks. As I left the visitor centre a Garden Warbler was singing enthusiastically from one of the trees at the side of the path. At the bottom of the zigzag path a Nightingale made its presence known.

I carried on to West Mead Hide in the hope that the second pair of Avocets to nest on one of the nearby islands had stayed…

A huge thank you to our wonderful volunteer Phil for his sightings report from Friday 12 May

Lowering clouds bring perpetual motion

On Friday 12 May I arrived at Pulborough Brooks in bright sunshine but the forecast suggested deteriorating weather in the morning with some light rain by lunchtime.  

I spent the morning gradually working my way round to a rather quiet North Brooks and by the time I left Nettley’s Hide at…

Thanks to volunteer Graham for his sightings report from the weekend together with his fabulous photos.

It was cool and damp at Pulborough Brooks on Sunday morning following the rain of the previous day and overnight. Nevertheless, the spirit of our songbirds had not been dampened, and apart from the distinctive voice of the Nightingale, it was quite a challenge to separate the notes of the numerous warblers and resident…

With thanks to volunteer Graham for his report and photos.

It was a pleasant Spring day at Pulborough Brooks on Sunday. After briefly joining Gary on the Tea Terrace, from where he spotted one of our regular White-tailed Eagles, I made my way to Fattengates Courtyard, closely followed by Anna & Rob’s 10 0’clock Birdsong Walk group. One of the many singing Nightingales provided excellent views close to the…

Thank you to volunteer Graham from his report from last weekend, together with some fantastic photos!

Despite the rain the songbirds were in full voice on Sunday morning. At Fattengates Courtyard a Nightingale was singing loudly from a fairly high perch in the middle distance when I was joined by Anna’s group who were doing a Birdsong Masterclass event. After the group had moved on the bird approached quite closely for…

With thanks to volunteer Graham for his wildlife sightings report and photos.

I made an extra visit to Pulborough Brooks on Saturday with the main aim of getting some better photos of the newts in Uppertons Pond using my macro lens and polarising filter. Unfortunately, the morning was quite cool and overcast, and no newts were on show early on. We decided to look for Nightingales and to visit West Mead as an alternative…

Spring at last! Thanks to volunteer Graham for his report and photos from the weekend.

As I made my way down the zigzag path a Nuthatch provided my first photographic subject.

When I got to West Mead Hide some visitors pointed out our now-regular White Tailed Eagles at some distance. On the scrape I located a Little Ringed Plover and I showed this (and the eagles) in my scope to several visitors. It soon got even busier…

Nightingale by Chris & Juliet Moore

A watch of nightingales

You arrive at Pulborough Brooks and it is pitch black.  All you can see are the stars and all you can hear is the sound of the Nightingale. And the sound is incredible, for both its variety and its volume. You can hear clear piping notes, musical phrases, frog-like croaks and a section that sounds reminiscent of gunfire – all coming from a brown bird about…

Recent Sightings Friday 17 March 'The stage is set for breeding lapwings'

Thanks to volunteer Phil for his article and photos.

In autumn and winter Pulborough Brooks plays host to thousands of lapwings from the near continent seeking milder weather and good feeding conditions. During the course of the last week the last of these birds seem to have departed.

The last month has seen a period of what I think of as…

At Pulborough Brooks we’re working to restore and maintain heathland habitat for rare species like Woodlark, Nightjar and Adders.

Thanks to volunteer Phil for his wildlife sightings report and photos.

On Friday 24 February a necessary clearance of scrub by the working party on North Brooks forced me to pay an unusual second visit in the afternoon to West Mead hide

A good morning session there revealed that the snipe had been bumped of their usual island by 2 pairs of teal but had relocated to the near bank and were still quite visible. Lapwings…

Thanks to volunteer Graham for his report and photos.

After a cool start things warmed up nicely in the sun at Pulborough Brooks yesterday (Sunday). At Fattengates Courtyard a blue tit provided a welcome splash of colour

and a bank vole made a number of appearances. 

 

From the gate at the bottom of Upperton’s Field a stonechat provided a fairly distant target.

In West Mead Hide at least three snipe were on the…

Thanks to volunteer Graham for his report and photos.

At West Mead Hide there was some long range raptor action with appearances by a marsh harrier and a peregrine, and eventually Neil spotted one of the white-tailed eagles in a distant tree, enabling a number of visitors to get views through our scopes. There were a number of red kites around, and one of them came close enough for a photo.

At closer range there was…

Thanks to volunteer John for his report from a busy weekend at the reserve.

After the Winterwatch mention of the white-tailed eagles at Pulborough Brooks an emergency appeal was issued asking for we volunteers to help out at the weekend in anticipation of an increase in visitors. News of the (fairly) regular visits from the eagles was already having a beneficial effect on visitor numbers and the publicity certainly added…

Our birding year got off to a great start over the first couple of days of January.  On New Year's Day we had to wait a while before the white-tailed eagles put in an appearance, but we were kept entertained by marsh harriers and red kites in the meantime. Snipe continue to delight, showing well from West Mead hide.

If you're heading out onto the wooded heathland, keep a look out for roving mixed flocks and search through…

Happy New Year!

Update to parking charges at RSPB Pulborough Brooks – introduction of lower charge for short-stay parking.

We’ve reviewed our parking charges and for those visitors who are simply popping in for a short visit the parking charge will be £1 for up to an hours parking (rather than the current flat charge of £3). The parking charge can be paid using the ‘PaybyPhone’ app or at our welcome hut.…

Thanks to volunteer Graham for braving the rain and for his report and photos.

The weather forecast for Sunday was heavy rain, and it turned out to be accurate. As I set out on the wetland trail it had started to spit. On the zig-zag path we met former reserve warden Pete and his partner, and they advised us that the regular white-tailed eagles were on the North Brooks. We therefore headed to Hanger View and quickly spotted…